Rep. Pat Smith, D-Baton Rouge, speaks with Voters Organized to Educate director Checo Yancy, center,who spent 20 years of a life sentence in Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola before his sentence was commuted by Gov. Edwin W. Edwards, and John Burkhart, left, Criminal Justice Reform Field Director for the Southern Poverty Law Center in New Orleans, in the back of the House Chamber before expected debate and action on her HB265, which would restore the right to register to vote to most felons on probation or parole five years ater they leave prison, Thursday, May 17, 2018 at the State Capitol.

Thousands of Louisiana felons likely to have voting rights restored after this final step is done

Rep. Pat Smith, D-Baton Rouge, speaks with Voters Organized to Educate director Checo Yancy, center,who spent 20 years of a life sentence in Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola before his sentence was commuted by Gov. Edwin W. Edwards, and John Burkhart, left, Criminal Justice Reform Field Director for the Southern Poverty Law Center in New Orleans, in the back of the House Chamber before expected debate and action on her HB265, which would restore the right to register to vote to most felons on probation or parole five years ater they leave prison, Thursday, May 17, 2018 at the State Capitol.

One phrase sums up the issue of expanding felon voting rights in Louisiana: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

After more than an hour of debate, the House voted 54-42 to restore voting rights to most felons on probation or parole five years after they leave prison.

"They pay their taxes, but they don't even get a chance to vote for you as their representative or any other person," said Rep. Pat Smith, a Baton Rouge Democrat who authored House Bill 265. "All we're trying to do is give them the right to vote — most of them say — before they die."

The measure now heads to Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat who is expected to sign it into law.

The bill's unlikely passage didn't come easy. It was rejected twice in the House earlier this session, before it passed on its third attempt just a week ago.

A state appellate court refused on Wednesday to reconsider its April ruling upholding the legality of a 1976 Louisiana law that bars felons on…

The boost in the Legislature came on the heels of a state appellate court's decision to refuse to reconsider an April ruling upholding the legality of the law, forwarding the lawsuit challenging it to the Louisiana Supreme Court.

Smith said that the measure would restore voting rights to about 3,500 of the more than 70,000 Louisiana residents on probation or parole for felony crimes.

"You hold a mistake over the rest of their life," she said. "They pay our salaries."

Sitting in the back of the room was Checo Yancy, who along with other advocates has been a fixture at the State Capitol lobbying on behalf of formerly incarcerated people, such as himself. Yancy was sentenced to life behind bars for felony crimes in 1984 but has been released on parole since 2003. Without a legal change, he would never regain the right to vote.

"He's in the back in a blue t-shirt in tears," said Rep. Ted James, D-Baton Rouge. "(He) deserves the opportunity to participate in his government."

The debate over the merits of the bill came despite the fact that the House was only tasked with agreeing or disagreeing with a Senate change that excludes people convicted of election fraud or other elections-based felonies from reinstatement.

Ten members changed their votes from May 10 – the last time the House took up the proposal. Six who voted in favor last time didn't vote on Thursday, while one member changed from "yes" to "no," one member went from "no" to "yes," one member who didn't vote before voted "yes," and one member who didn't vote before voted "no."